Even though Alistair started training his magic when he left Kingdom, I don’t think Alistair has been training enough recently because he’s been busy with work. And, his magic amount seems slightly less than brother’s, who has been training with father since the beginning and although Alistair is a hunter, his magic use is crude.
“Lei, watch this,” Alistair said as he channelled his magic into the magic box. He had grown a lot more than when we were travelling.
“Awishthair amawing.”
“Ain’t I? I trained properly after you go to sleep.”
“Weww done!”
I can’t believe that Alistair was also training his magic while I was secretly training mine. However, he didn’t practice in secret but trained during his spare time.
“Now Barth and eberywon.”
“I didn’t listen properly, but I’m sure I trained myself. Everyone’s gotten faster at detecting Hollows when we go out hunting.”
“Amawing.”
Huh? Then I don’t have to apologise for feeling bad, right?
“Lei, you’re still a kid, so that’s different. People in Kingdom teach young kids not to overdo it, right?”
“Aai.”
“So why don’t you do it with us? That way we won’t push ourselves.”
“Ai!”
On that day, Noah brought his mum to us and apologised for his carelessness. His mum was also troubled because she couldn’t accept the magic stone and Alistair settled it with, “I’m well aware of how painful it is to not have any parents around. Please take this magic stone for Noah’s sake.” Alistair didn’t have a father and came to Lentforce with his mother, but she passed away while he was still young. Even though he was alone now, everyone recognised how hardworking he is.
“But mum said she’s going to sell dad’s magic stone right away.”
“Of course, she would! Your dad would tell us to use it to make our lives easier! And-,” Noah’s mum continued in a quieter voice, “There are also essences that don’t belong to your dad in this stone. It’s a bit disgusting.”
“Huh? Mum, what is it?”
“Nothing.”
Mum is strong. The rest of us smiled wryly while tilting our head in puzzlement and Noah and his mum went back home safely.
There was always someone else in the workshop with Alistair and I; they would make magic boxes, engrave designs onto the magic boxes or sit on a chair and stare at the ceiling. Alistair and I would have fun playing with the building blocks or practising our magic.
Then I would take a nap and eat while feeling refreshed. After we finish eating, I would drink tea, and Alistair would talk.
“I think it’s about time we teach the townspeople about this magic training.”
“Why? Alistair, Lei’s also here and isn’t it better if people don’t know you have that kind of power?”
Alistair had made this suggestion, but it looked like he couldn’t make up his mind.
“Everyone in this town knows that Lei has the blood of the Four Marquises. They probably also know that Lei had been kidnapped. This might happen again, and they might target me along with Lei.”
“You guys will be fine if you stay with us,” Bart firmly said.
“Yeah. I know. Thanks. But, but you know, if I have to leave this town for some reason, then I would like to leave behind this magic training method.”
“Basically-.”
“Even if there’s no longer anyone here with a lot of magic, I’m sure that more people would be able to use magic if they train and gradually increase their magic power.”
“So, even if you’re gone, they won’t be troubled?”
“Yeah.”
Magic is valuable in Frontier. Alistair secretly fills up the magic stones as much as he can even when he’s at the magic stone shop. Of course, he probably does this for his livelihood. But, he probably also wants to repay everyone in this town for looking after him.
“Are you alright with this Lei? It’s your idea.”
“Awrighth. Eberywon becomes hapwy.”
“Hapwy? I don’t know what she’s saying,” Bart looked puzzled.
“She’s probably saying happy, right?”
“I wnew chu wouwd undershthand me Miww.”
“Happy, is it? They certainly know Lei’s value and her whereabouts have already been exposed. They’ll keep trying to kidnap her no matter what we do.”
They’ll continue to target me. I looked up at the ceiling and sighed, “Thoo hawd.”
“Pfft.”
For some reason, everyone rolled around and laughed even though I’m suffering here.
“S-stop it, Lei. You’re too weird.”
I think Kyaro laughs easily.
“You guys have the blood of the Four Marquises. So let’s learn about magic. Is that fine, Alistair?”
“Yeah!”
“Lei?”
“Ai!”
“Then I’ll talk about it with the mayor and Brendal.”
So the next day, we immediately gathered the mayor and the hunters from the magic stone shop, and they got excited when they heard that they could increase their magic power. The day after that, a training schedule was set for them, and we immediately put Alistair’s proposal into practice.
First, they trained the hunters who were sensitive to magic, and then they trained those who filled the magic stones. Once these two groups have grasped how to train their magic, then they will train those with little magic.
People in Lentforce are always open to acquiring abilities that will allow them to live even though they belong to Wester in Frontier because they never get any support from the region.
But why is Alistair rushing with this idea? We don’t have any prophetic powers, but our peaceful days didn’t last for too long.
It happened when training was going smoothly and the season changed to autumn. We were supposed to help with magic training at the mayor’s mansion on this day too, but it was a workday, so I was playing with blocks at Brendal’s shop. It was pretty interesting.
When the customer’s footsteps started settling down, a man came into the shop.
Oh, I know him. He’s the mayor’s butler. He looks a little pale. Brendal asked questioningly, “What’s wrong?”
“The messengers-…”
“““Messengers?!””” Brendal, Bart and Alistair said. I have a terrible feeling that they’re the fakes from the other day.
“A messenger from the capital came. He’s a formal messenger. It’s different from the times when they invite you to the capital. They’re asking Alistair and Leila to go to the capital. It’s a formal request.” The mayor’s butler looked bitter.
“Bart, I don’t think the mayor will be able to refuse this time.”